Category: Insight

As Ottawa freezes under ice this winter, a choir of disgruntled voices call for OC Transpo to be declared an essential service.

It seems that today everything offensive is blamed on socialism: higher taxes, abortion, suppression of people, murder, theft, manslaughter, bad weather. OK, maybe that’s going too far. But, anyone who paid attention to what the Republican party during their recent presidential campaign and paid very close attention to the Canadian election will notice that socialism was painted again and again as the imminent death keel that could destroy our democratic society.

The major global issue today is probably unique in that the average Canadian citizen likely has no idea what it’s really all about. It’s not just Canadians either; people around the world are scratching their heads wondering why terms like subprime mortgages and credit-default swaps are causing hundreds of thousands of people to lose their homes and jobs. That’s because nobody is really explaining it.

It’s a really bad time to be red. In the United States, the Republicans were dealt a defeat in both the presidential race and Congress. And in Canada, the Liberal party is reeling off another election defeat, seriously lacking in resources, and leaderless.